


Bandage

by Fudgyokra



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Blood and Injury, F/M, Ficlet, Friendship/Love, Sad Ending, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 21:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16313069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fudgyokra/pseuds/Fudgyokra
Summary: Why should they be the ones who crave what fate decides to impose upon her? Why should they be the ones who win?





	Bandage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PerfectPurgatory](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerfectPurgatory/gifts).



> Prompt: Bleeding Through the Bandages, requested by perfectpurgatory on Tumblr.

Her fingers slip through the gore that was once his body, trying to touch where skin should meet skin, only to come back with more blood. She can't discern between the beginning of one wound and the end of another because he's so mottled with them - a mockery of a monster sewn together from bits. There's a fear that grips her when she finally lifts her soiled hands from the mess that maybe he's–

But, no, he's still breathing. He's still alive.

Rey is perched at Kylo's side, her fingers scrambling to unravel the bandages and get them in place. It's a hell of a maneuver since her hands are slicked and racked with tremors, but it's one she'll have to succeed with if she wants him to make it through this. Frantically, she packs gauze into what she can see of the first wound, watching his chest - steadily rising and falling before - spasm with the pain. That meant he was conscious, then.

The relieved sob of "oh!" doesn't even register as her own voice, nor does the wetness trailing down her cheeks register as her own tears. She's frustrated to be crying, but then Kylo's hand scrambles blindly for her as if he's seeing in the dark, even with his eyes now open, and she can't help but shelve it away for something a little more like  _hope_.

"Stay with me," she begs, panicked. After several minutes she has his torso wrapped tight, her makeshift tourniquet the best that can be done.

And he's still bleeding. The gauze, pale brown to begin with, is flooded with it. Soon it's hopelessly scarlet, and Rey can't stop the anguished wail that escapes from some deep, primal part of her.

"You have to stay!" she shouts, not at him but at the world. It isn't fair, it isn't fair, it isn't fair.

Kylo coughs. Out comes more blood, more fodder for the wolves, or for the hungry soldiers who want him dead. Why should they be the ones who crave what fate decides to impose upon her? Why should they be the ones who win?

"Ben," she says, because it's the only thing she can think of to say when Kylo's hand finally finds purchase on her thigh. "You have to breathe. For me."

"Girl," he calls her, a twist of the knife. Then, softer, something worse: "Rey…"

There's no request. There are no final words. It's just Kylo Ren, the kid, lying on the floor in a puddle of muck. The past had bled him dry before, but the present wasn't nearly so kind as to leave anything left. Not for him, and not for the girl from Jakku.

She has to close his eyes for him because they do not close on their own. When she pulls her fingers away, his eyelids are smeared red like the rest of him.


End file.
